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Game Balls, Game Goats & FU's......Week 1 @ Buffalo.....

SteelerSask2 said:
I agree if the front seven stays healthy that is one thing they can hang their collective hat on. They can apply pressure. I thought Melvin Ingrim was outstanding today. And from the perspective of being able to rotate the players they might be better from an edge standpoint than last season.
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Ingrim was a fantastic pickup! He fits right in. I found myself at first going who the hell is that guy with his hair on fire.

He needs to get a better fitting on that helmet. Thing flew off several times.
 
I thought Canada’s offense was supposed to be a LOT of QB under center to set up a lot of play fakes? Are those formations/plays just “deleted” from the pmaybook while Ben’s still here? Seems like Canada is calling plays with one hand tied behind his back with Ben constantly in shotgun.
 
fedderone said:
I thought Canada’s offense was supposed to be a LOT of QB under center to set up a lot of play fakes? Are those formations/plays just “deleted” from the pmaybook while Ben’s still here? Seems like Canada is calling plays with one hand tied behind his back with Ben constantly in shotgun.
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Part of it may have been the scoreboard.
 
Steeltime said:
And the pass pressure came from five guys - Watt, Ingram, Highsmith, Heyward and Alualu - beating blockers and not due to schemes or tricking the blockers.

When the pass rush can simply overpower the pass blocking without needing to blitz, that means 7 guys in coverage. The result? 54 pass plays (51 passes, 3 sacks), 254 passing yards allowed, or an average of 4.7 yards per pass attempt. And that is not counting the five holding calls the pass rush forced.
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From NFL.com
Next Gen stat of the game: The Steelers generated pressure without bringing extra defenders. Pittsburgh blitzed on just two of 54 dropbacks (3.7%), the second-lowest rate by a Pitt defense since at least 2016 -- the Steelers blitzed on 39.6% of dropbacks in 2020 (third-highest in NFL)
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I just re-watched he game rather quickly. I feel like at least with Canada this year they’re going to make changes from the game plan. The game plan may just be different each week unlike previous seasons. The motion and bunches weren’t working earlier, they did go away from that.

looks like 55 and 93 did their job, barely saw them which is a good thing. Looking forward to bringing 55 soon on blitzes, this might be the first time I don’t remember even seeing the ILB cross blitz

I give the rookie punter a break, he crushed one late in the game when it was needed. Berry woulda kick a 40 yarder

Very impressed by the secondary play. As usual I feel Edmonds is the weakest link. I want to see if the two new secondary folks can do with another week of practice. Sutton was impressive and Pierre was OK, but made a big play when it was needed. Norwood surprised me.

silly when Tuitt comes back

OL can only get better and 1st to 2nd showed that. Still think a RT is needed. Now salary’s are not guaranteed. Swartz?

Ebron needs to be 2nd string. I think that his why Gentry was in late for blocking.

like to see more Derek Watt

End of the day a win and 98-100 of the “expert picked Buffalo. Steelers under 500 and they are a joke. Poor Cowherd, has to make excuses tomorrow and go with luck and blind squirrel comments and what the refs missed.

And Tomlins 1st win after being down 10-0 at the half

3-2-1 Win
 
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Black & Gold Bleeder said:
edit,, fu to Dotson wearing the black and yellow bandanna hanging out the back.. This isnt the rajun cajuns.
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He also had an off sides which brought a first down back.



Salute the nation
 
Steelr4evr said:
Ingrim was a fantastic pickup! He fits right in. I found myself at first going who the hell is that guy with his hair on fire.

He needs to get a better fitting on that helmet. Thing flew off several times.
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The one time he was running on the field and chin strap was undone. He got hurt a bit there.
 
OL, DBs, rookies: needle is pointing up.
Some big plays, adjustments at half.....that was a varsity effort.

6 rookies contributed and the biggest issue was the shanked punt. Kudos to Tombert and coaches
 
Ben shook off the rust we knew he'd have just like every year due to getting basically no game time during the preseason. It sucks but that's what they've been doing for over a decade.

The O-line got better throughout the game. Hopefully, that will continue.

Canada started to allow deeper throws in the 2nd half. He has so many weapons, he needs to let Ben use them. Throw the quick slants. Throw the 20 , 30 and 40+ yard balls to open the D. Don't wait until the 2nd half to throw to a TE. You have 2 very good options there. All of that will give Najee room to do his thing. He doesn't need much. But, when they had 8 or 9 men in the box in the first half, it looked just like the back part of last year. That needs fixed and fixed now.
 
TDX27 said:
Ben shook off the rust we knew he'd have just like every year due to getting basically no game time during the preseason. It sucks but that's what they've been doing for over a decade.

The O-line got better throughout the game. Hopefully, that will continue.

Canada started to allow deeper throws in the 2nd half. He has so many weapons, he needs to let Ben use them. Throw the quick slants. Throw the 20 , 30 and 40+ yard balls to open the D. Don't wait until the 2nd half to throw to a TE. You have 2 very good options there. All of that will give Najee room to do his thing. He doesn't need much. But, when they had 8 or 9 men in the box in the first half, it looked just like the back part of last year. That needs fixed and fixed now.
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All teams will stack the line like that until we start burning their *** downfield more. Our OL needs time. We have a lot of rookies. That was their first real game and they got a W!


Onwards &upwards.
 
Confluence said:
OL, DBs, rookies: needle is pointing up.
Some big plays, adjustments at half.....that was a varsity effort.

6 rookies contributed and the biggest issue was the shanked punt. Kudos to Tombert and coaches
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Norwood had some good and bad moments. To be expected. But I would imagine his reps won't increase until that stabilizes. But yeah loved the rookie contributions overall. I look forward to seeing them grow.
 
Steelr4evr said:
All teams will stack the line like that until we start burning their *** downfield more. Our OL needs time. We have a lot of rookies. That was their first real game and they got a W!


Onwards &upwards.
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Agreed but we didn't throw anything in the 1st half in close to 20 yards, let alone further to open things up. You need to do that early especially since teams learned how to shut us down last year. One of our first 3 plays in every game should be Claypool going deep or even lobbing it out there to him, especially if he is single-covered. If not him, then someone else.
 
I'll need to review the game in more detail, but my first impression is that the defense was relying a lot less on the linebackers in coverage, which was refreshing. The pass rush was ferocious, without the need to blitz. Bush was active. Minkah had a really strong game, and Pierre was impressive as well. Allowing an explosive Bills' offense only one touchdown on eleven possessions is remarkable. This is a big-play Steelers defense capable of carrying the team to a win, and it did so today.

The offense needs work. Very little in the way of openings for Najee, that 18-yard run he had was all of his own making. Ben was rusty, but he did make some key plays in the second half to prolong drives and help get the game under control. Props to DJ on a fine touchdown reception. It is plain to see that he's worked hard to overcome his issues last year with drops, and I expect him to have a productive season.

Overall, an unexpected win on the road against a very good opponent, leaving a totally different taste in the mouth than after the Bills game last year. The Steelers are going to need to keep playing at a high level, because to me the AFC North looks like by far the best division in the NFL.
 
I am going on record saying Tomlin deserves a game ball. The offense was abysmal in the 1st half, and they came out with actual, observable adjustments in the 2nd half and they caught the Bills off-guard. Also, it was noted during the game that Tomlin may have been calling some of the defenses. That defense played a hell of a game and if it's true the Tomlin was calling much of it, Butler better be looking for some good fonts for his resume.

One of my BIGGEST frustrations with Tomlin is his seeming inability or unwillingness to make adjustments. Well, yesterday they don't win that game if offensive adjustments aren't made. Hell, they might not have scored.
 
I did have a "chuckle out loud" moment during the game yesterday. There was a televised moment when Ben handed off to Najee, who didn't really have any kind of lane developing and he sort of juked and danced for a second or two before eventually getting tackled for a 2 yard loss. As he's tackled to the ground, Ben has this moment where he looks at Najee and then just turns away with a sort of "Dork" vibe. It was awesome.
 
It seems like they had 2 DL, 2 OLB's, 2 ILB's and 5 DB's for pretty much the entire game. They had a great D game plan for a pass-happy team. This week, the Raiders I believe have a better running game so that will give us a better test in that department.
 
wig said:
I am going on record saying Tomlin deserves a game ball. The offense was abysmal in the 1st half, and they came out with actual, observable adjustments in the 2nd half and they caught the Bills off-guard. Also, it was noted during the game that Tomlin may have been calling some of the defenses. That defense played a hell of a game and if it's true the Tomlin was calling much of it, Butler better be looking for some good fonts for his resume.

One of my BIGGEST frustrations with Tomlin is his seeming inability or unwillingness to make adjustments. Well, yesterday they don't win that game if offensive adjustments aren't made. Hell, they might not have scored.
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What is the common denominator? A history of losing when down by ten at the half. Perhaps he has stayed out of the offenses way in the past and yesterday. The difference is yesterday the OC made adjustments. Just one of those grey areas you don't know if he was the deciding factor any more than those moments when the O didn't make adjustments in the past. Probably gets a percentage of credit and blame. What the actual percentage is only known behind closed doors.
 
Regardless of how it happened... It happened and as we all like to say, Tomlin is ultimately the guy who takes the blame and ought to get the credit when something actually works as it's supposed to.

It doesn't matter if Tomlin "made" the changes, if he "accepted" the changes or even if he only gets credit for hiring someone CAPABLE of coming up with adjustments. At the end of the day, the offense was different in the 2nd half and THAT was the ballgame.
 
TDX27 said:
Agreed but we didn't throw anything in the 1st half in close to 20 yards, let alone further to open things up. You need to do that early especially since teams learned how to shut us down last year. One of our first 3 plays in every game should be Claypool going deep or even lobbing it out there to him, especially if he is single-covered. If not him, then someone else.
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I agree but the middle of the field behind the LB's and between the safeties is where we need to focus. The Bills DBs and safeties are somewhat elite and taking risks against them usually result in apple turnovers for the Bills.

Dual drag routes, slants and play action will open the running lanes for Najee but, eh, we won so I'm not complaining...
 
wig said:
Regardless of how it happened... It happened and as we all like to say, Tomlin is ultimately the guy who takes the blame and ought to get the credit when something actually works as it's supposed to.

It doesn't matter if Tomlin "made" the changes, if he "accepted" the changes or even if he only gets credit for hiring someone CAPABLE of coming up with adjustments. At the end of the day, the offense was different in the 2nd half and THAT was the ballgame.
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True but a complete team win. He gets credit for that. Hopefully that adjustment showing continues moving forward. Because that will go far in putting up more Ws than Ls.
 
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